Turners 19-year-old faces OUI, weapon charges

GREENFIELD — An under-age Turners Falls woman accused of driving drunk and carrying a weapon pleaded innocent and was released on personal recognizance at her arraignment Monday in Greenfield District Court.

Christina R. Mateo, 19, of 57 Central St., Turners Falls, is charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, possessing alcohol while under the age of 21, failure to stop for a stop sign and carrying a dangerous weapon: brass knuckles.

Garrett Danna of the Deerfield Police wrote in his report that he saw a car travel through the intersection of Stillwater and Mill Village roads without stopping for the stop sign and continue, very slowly, on Mill Village Road until the driver pulled abruptly into the Pioneer Gardens driveway.

Danna wrote that upon turning back into the driveway after narrowly avoiding the car he observed three people in the vehicle and possibly one walking away, although he was prevented from investigating by a passenger exiting the vehicle.

Danna wrote that he smelled freshly burnt marijuana and the two passengers, a Greenfield man and woman, admitted to smoking and drinking.

Two bottles of vodka, a 750 ml and a 375 ml, were on the floor of the car and nearly empty. Mateo failed several field sobriety tests, according to the report. After her arrest, Mateo volunteered that she was carrying brass knuckles when asked if she had anything he should know about, kept asking if her friends would get in trouble and said the alcohol was all hers, Dana wrote.

The passengers were issued citations for possession of open containers in the passenger area of a vehicle, and Mateo was issued a $100 fine for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.